Rebecca Hersher

Yeah, really idyllic.

You know, life is good there in many, many ways.

But living next to the Mekong also means that floods are a part of life.

And like a lot of places, the floods here are getting more severe because of climate change, which means they're getting more dangerous for the people who live near the water.

And the people in Praktush and in other parts of Cambodia are using really simple technology to protect themselves from these increasingly extreme floods.

Okay, so there are a couple reasons.

One is sea level rise.

So as the earth heats up, water that used to be permanently frozen, like glaciers and polar ice caps, are melting.

And that's adding water to the oceans.

The oceans are also getting hotter.

Hotter water expands.

So it takes up more space.

And so you add that all up and sea levels are rising all over the world, which is causing more severe flooding for people who live on the coast.

The other big reason, though, is rain.

I really feel like this one flies under the radar.

Like everyone's always thinking about sea level rise.

But rain is a really big deal.

A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture.

So when it rains, it pours, literally.

And when a lot of water falls in a short period of time, the ground can't soak it all up.